The present invention is generally directed to wireless communications and more specifically to how charges for wireless communication calls are processed.
Mobility service providers, e.g. a provider of cellular services, offer a variety of calling plans to subscribers. Some calling plans may offer the subscriber unlimited, or virtually unlimited, inbound calls to a wireless handset without incurring a charge per call or minutes of air time used. Other plans offer subscribers unlimited inbound and outbound calls to a wireless handset without incurring a charge per call if the other party is also a subscriber of the same service provider. Service providers also offer calling plans with a low fixed monthly charge, but such plans normally include only a limited number of included minutes. Once a subscriber exceeds the limited number of included minutes, the subscriber will incur a charge per minute of wireless access service. This charge is in addition to any other charges, e.g. long distance or special services charges, accessed by other network providers.
Toll-free numbers have been in use in the United States for many years. Typically, a business or corporation will utilize a toll-free number to provide free telephone access by callers. This is typically offered as an inducement to do business with the business or corporation. A caller utilizing a land line telephone to call a business with an 800 toll-free number does not incur unit charges for this call. This is because the called business is billed for this service instead of the calling party.
Although a wireless subscriber can initiate a call from a wireless handset to a party with a toll-free number, e.g. a number is an 800 area code, the subscriber is still subject to the terms of the mobility service provider's calling plan selected by the subscriber. That is, the subscriber is still subject to a charge per minute of wireless air time used even when calling a telephone number with an assigned toll-free area code. Although mobility service providers are linked to the public switched telephone network, the mobility service providers are separate entities and hence wireless subscribers are subject to the separate billing plan of the mobility service providers. Thus, there exists a need for improved flexibility for handling the billing of calls originated by a wireless subscriber to traditional toll-free telephone numbers.